Hilary Swank Biography:

She was born in Bellingham, Washington on July 30th, 1974. Much of her childhood was consumed with sports: she began swimming at age three and competed in the Junior Olympics and Washington State Championships for the sport. She was also ranked fifth in her state for the all-around-competition in gymnastics. At the age of nine Hilary starred in her first play as Mowgli in "The Jungle Book." She found she enjoyed acting immensely and began regularly appearing in local theater and school plays.

At sixteen Hilary and her mother had only $75 to their name but they put their belongings in their car and moved to Los Angeles. Living out of their vehicle Hilary began looking for work as an actress. She found small parts in commercials and the TV series "Harry and The Hendersons" (1991). She got her first real break with parts in "Growing Pains" and "Evening Shade." These appearances evolved into recurring roles for her character in both series.

In 1992 Hilary was cast as a regular on the TV series "Camp Wilder." That same year she made her film debut in "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" as Buffy's sidekick. Shortly after she was cast in 1994's "The Next Karate Kid."

Since then she has continued to work steadily with film roles as well as TV series. Her most notable TV series was in "Beverly Hills 90210" in 1997-98 season. But it wasn't until "Boy's Don't Cry" that Hilary really made a name for herself in Tinsel town.

In 1999 she won an Academy Award for "Best Actress" for her role in “Boys Don’t Cry”. She also won the Golden Globe for the same category. She followed up with “The Gift” (2000) also starring Cate Blanchett. In 2001 she starred in the period piece “The Affair of the Necklace”. Next she joined Al Pacino and Robin Williams in the thriller “Insomnia”. Upcoming she will be in “The Core” and “11:14” both due to come out in 2003.